MAMMAL, RIVAL FIRE & CRYSTAL IGNITE
Pictured: Ezekiel Ox - Mammal
Venue: The Espy - Melbourne - 6 March, 2020
Photo by: Darcy Moore
The Espy - March 2020
Review by Darcy Moore | Sense Music Media
I was waiting excitedly in line to get my ticket and get into the band room. It’d been years since I’d been in the Gershwin, and with the new Espy revamp I was eager to see/hear how it was. I was not disappointed. From the back of the line to get into the Gershwin I could see the stage presence of the band, and once I was in, I bee-lined to the front to get a bit of the action. Mistakes made me late but you know you’re in for a treat when you only get to see the last 1.5 songs of a band and yet you’re immediately energised… as was CRYSTAL IGNITE.
Pictured: Michel White, Crystal Ignite + Jimi Baruta - Crystal Ignite
Venue: The Espy - Melbourne - 6 March, 2020
Photo by: Darcy Moore
Crystal Ignite
This powerful woman has exploded back on the scene after several projects in the early 00’s, launching her career, paving the way for female vocalists and making her a staple among those in the alternative Aussie rock community. It was clear by her performance, this was no understatement. Among her previous projects was Melbourne four-piece BELLUSIRA, who I first saw play in Sydney in 2011 and who pumped out 2 great albums between then and 2015. Now Crystal was back on stage after the recent release of Black Mamba fronting a band under her own name CRYSTAL IGNITE. When I saw her performing with her unmistakable vocals and impulsive energy backed by insanely talented musicians who made the stage seem to bounce, I felt gutted that I had arrived late. She was awesome! This was a jumpstart welcome to what would be one of the best sweatiest messes.
Pictured: Rob Farnham - Rival Fire
Venue: The Espy - Melbourne - 6 March, 2020
Photo by: Darcy Moore
Rival Fire
The Melbourne boys were clearly excited to play the iconic Gershwin room, and who wouldn’t be. The crowds were really filtering in now and the band was keen to show their skills. In all efforts of transparency; I was new to this outfit, and after having done some research since the gig, finding out they’ve produced and toured alongside some Australian heavy-hitters I can see them having a comfortable little slice of the Australian rock music circle. Front man Rob Farnham has certainly inherited some of his Dad (John’s) belter genes. I’m looking forward to seeing them play around town more often… once we’re allowed out of our houses again.
Pictured: Ezekiel Ox taming the crowd
Venue: The Espy - Melbourne - 6 March 2020
Photo by: Darcy Moore
The crowd starts to settle down after the first two bands. Tired and excited. Anxious and riled. We all sang contemporary Australian heavy rock bands to each other. KARNIVOOL, COG, and DEAD LETTER CIRCUS floated through the speakers and the rest of the patrons of the sold out show, who missed the first two bands (their loss), filed into the already packed Gershwin. Not sure who was DJ’ing the filler music, but it worked. We were ready.
The previous bands had open curtains to the stage before their performances: lights, sounds, warts and all, but MAMMAL had a closed curtain and an enigmatic ghostly blue light, barely broke through, leaving the crowd to try and take peeks behind it. “Yeah, Nah they should be on soon, hey”, was a sentence heard once or thrice. As the 500 or so souls bunched up and compounded towards the front of the stage, the overhead music faded, the unmistakable bass drum kicked and belted across the room, the curtains drew - and it was on.
Pictured: Ezekiel Ox - Mammal
Venue: The Espy - Melbourne - 6 March, 2020
Photo by: Darcy Moore
MAMMAL
Through huffs and puffs, New Breed Judas was an epic and beautiful opener. To help you picture it; 30 seconds into the first song a woman passed out and fell onto the stage steps that I was standing on. ‘Hectic’ is a word I wouldn’t use casually. It was a bit of a secret that this would be Nick’s (T\the bassist’s) last show. This fact coupled with the idea that this was one of the bands first gigs in a long time meant the guys let loose. Ezekiel had a great stage presence; his powering vocals with his banter that made him appear friendly, fiercely passionate and genuinely happy to be there - gave the audience a true frontman. It’s rare to get that mixture, but when you do - the cocktail tastes delicious.
Pictured: Pete Williamson, Ezekiel Ox + Nick Adams - Mammal
Venue: The Espy - Melbourne - 6 March, 2020
Photo by: Darcy Moore
Huge stage jumps, crowd surfing and much needed sips of beer were all extra members of the band on the night. At one point Ezekiel made his way through the crowd and stood on the bar at the other end of the room to give the people up the back a couple of songs of the action. On his walk back through the crowd he stopped and let the guy in a wheelchair next to me sing with him, which you could tell lit up his night. Tiny things like that really solidify a bands act for me, and help bridge the gap between performer and punter. The band played through their first self-titled debut in full for the first half of the set and peppered the rest with more crowd favourites, then finished up with an energetic performance of Smash the Piñata. It saddens me to look back at the irony of the band sort of half joking about the Coronavirus, and how everyone in the room may have it due to the intimacy of the gig, yet now the steep escalation of things means that I don’t know when I’ll be able to revisit my beloved live music scene. I can however say this with all confidence: when the lid is lifted and we can all go and support the music scene again, please go out in droves and support the bands and the venues, and if any of these three bands are playing near you, they will not disappoint, buy one of their t-shirts because you might need to change afterwards!
Photos by Darcy Moore: @darcywmoore_musicphoto
